Page 1 of Lethal Game

Chapter One

It had taken him threeairplanes and over twenty-six hours to travel more than seven thousand miles, and now he was going to have to kill someone.

Ten feet from his room in the Navy hotel at the American Naval base in Bahrain.

All Special Forces Communications Sergeant Connor Button wanted was to find a bed and crash for a few hours.

What he did not need was witnessing some idiot striking out with a hot blonde and not taking it well.

She’d just removed his hand from her waist.

The man put it on her shoulder and tried to bring her closer. “Aw, come on, sweetheart.”

She slid away, her voice clear across the short distance. “No.”

Okay, dude, time to retreat.Only, the guy didn’t. He grabbed her by the back of the neck, hard enough to make her gasp in pain, and leaned down, his mouth aimed for hers.

She slapped the moron, but he didn’t get that hint either, just grabbed her hand and twisted it behind her back.

Con had to make himself stand still for a second. One second, so he could throttle back the instinct to beat the stupid fuck to death.

Fine.His jaw flexed. He wouldn’t kill the asshole, but he could hurt him real bad.

Con dropped his duffel on the floor and stomped toward the woman and the moron whose arm he was about to break.

Into several pieces.

Small ones.

The stomping got the moron’s attention. He glanced up, saw Con coming and his eyes went wide. He let go of the woman so fast she wobbled off balance and fell to the floor. Con stopped to help her while the moron ran like a track star down the hall and around a corner.

Good call, asshole.

Con bent down and offered his hand to the woman. “Are you okay?”

Her head jerked up and she stared at him with eyes that didn’t miss a thing. She scooted away, leaving his hand hanging in the air, then stood. Her shoulders went back and her chin rose.

He almost smiled. She was so not interested in another man getting all up in her business. He’d make sure she was all right, then he’d back off.

“Ma’am, did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” she said, retreating a step.

Blue-green eyes stood out in a face framed by white-blonde hair hanging in a sheet down to the middle of her back. She was also stacked, though she wasn’t showing it off. She was following military clothing requirements, wearing long pants and a collared shirt one size too big, buttoned up to her neck. An asshole had just tried to sexually assault her, but Con would bet a year’s pay that had he not come along, the moron would have had his hands full with a pissed-off female trying to smash his balls into paste.

He glanced down.

Her mouth was pressed into a thin angry line, but her hands were shaking.

For the first time in months something other than anger or despair slammed into him.

He knew just how she felt. Hyped up on adrenaline and looking for a target.

It surprised him so much he opened his mouth to make some inane comment or other to show her he was no threat, but she raised a hand to stop him.

She spoke a quick, firm “Thank you.” And then she was gone, inside the room closest to her. The click of the lock being engaged echoed down the hall.

He blinked at the empty hallway. He wasn’t sure she was okay, but those shaking hands and that locked door sent a pretty clear signal that she didn’t want another man anywhere near her.

---